The X Factor 2011 - The Results

Who wins? You decide.

Well, actually it's all over now, and Little Mix won. Did you vote for them? Did you vote for any of the acts that made the final?

Chances are, probably not - there were an awful lot of entrants after all, and only three true finalists. And one of those wasn't in the competition for half of the live shows.

However, for better or worse, Little Mix are now vying for the Christmas number one spot, and you can preview and order their single, Cannonball, below.


The Groups

There was loads of talk this series about how "everybody thought a group could never win The X Factor" and how "Little Mix give inspiration to all those groups thinking of entering next series".

Really?

Firstly, I've never ruled out the groups - it's just that they're usually useless, like Jedward. Defend them if you want, but remember they probably get more airtime on TV than on the radio.

Same Difference were a bit crazy, but likeable, yet even they were depicted as being weird and over the top. Remember Sarah sobbing at the end of Never Had a Dream Come True? Of course not, because she wasn't turned into some kind of social pariah like Jesy has been this year.

But most of all, remember this - Little Mix entered The X Factor as solo performers. Nu Vibe entered The X Factor as solo performers. The Risk entered The X Factor as solo performers.

The only true 'group' to make the live shows were 2 Shoes, who were kicked off before the public had a chance to have their say. From the week of the first public vote, there was no group left in the competition, other than those put together by the judges.

And that doesn't even scratch the surface of the bandmate-swapping that went on between Nu Vibe and The Risk - not only halfway through the live shows, but remember the change-around at Tulisa's "judges' houses", too?

In fact, Little Mix made it through to Tulisa's house (as Rhythmix, of course) without ever performing together, having been formed - again, by the judges - after the end of boot camp.

The Voting

Anyway, it's not the acts' fault that they were chopped and changed around until they were in boy bands and girl bands, instead of performing on their own, is it? You'd be a fool to walk away from the opportunity either way.

So, to the voting, and who was voted off each week? That depends on your definition of 'voted off'.

Most weeks, the public decided the bottom two acts, and the judges voted to eliminate one after a sing-off, during which time the public's opinion counted for basically nothing.

It's the same format The X Factor has been using for years, so is it fair?

Here's some statistics:

Week 1, no public vote, four acts eliminated by the judges.
Week 2, Nu Vibe receive fewest votes (2.6%) and are eliminated by the judges.
Week 3, Kitty Brucknell receives fewest votes (5.0%), Sami Brookes is eliminated by the judges.
Week 4, Misha Bryan receives fewest votes (5.1%), Sophie Habibis is eliminated by the judges.
Week 5, double elimination:
- The Risk receive fewest votes (7.2%) and are eliminated automatically.
- Kitty Brucknell receives next-fewest (7.6%), Johnny Robinson eliminated by the judges.
Week 6, Frankie Cocozza leaves and Amelia Lily rejoins with almost half the public vote.
- On Sunday, Misha Bryan receives fewest votes (8.0%), Kitty Brucknell eliminated by the judges.
Week 7, Craig Colton receives fewest votes (10.9%) and is eliminated by the judges.
Week 8, Misha Bryan receives fewest votes (14.5%), Janet Devlin is eliminated by the judges.
Week 9, Misha Bryan receives fewest votes (20.2%) and is eliminated with no sing-off.
Week 10, Amelia Lily is eliminated on Saturday with 26.5% of the vote.
- Marcus Collins is runner-up with 42.8% of the vote.
- Little Mix win with 48.3% of the vote (Amelia's carried-over votes account for the other 8% or so).

Just to be clear, during the weeks with a sing-off, where the eliminated act was decided by the judges, they agreed with the public vote twice, and eliminated the act who didn't get the fewest votes on five separate occasions. Obviously they also chose the first four acts to leave, and nobody had much control over Frankie.

That means that you decided five of the acts who left, and nine (not including Frankie) left the show against the run of the public vote, or with no voting at all.

To Cut a Long Story Short (Too Late...)

I'm a fan of The X Factor. I really am - just as the summer now feels odd without Big Brother, the run-up to Christmas would seem strange without The X Factor.

But everything above is, as far as possible, entirely factual, with little or no opinion added. There are lies, there are damned lies, and there are The X Factor statistics, but I've tried to be as impartial as possible in my analysis.

Whether you're a Little Mix supporter or not, though, there's still a good chance that a few of the runners-up will get record contracts in the months to come.

As last year's second-placed Rebecca Ferguson rides high in the album chart with her debut album, an authentic collection of tracks co-written by Fergs herself, it remains to be seen which of this year's crop will still be on the nation's lips in 12 months' time.